When I lived in Canberra, this blog was a diary of my lunchtime adventures in the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Seeing so many interesting things each lunchtime gave me the idea to practice my photography and share my experiences. In 2011 I moved to Brisbane and gained a position as a research scientist at CSIRO. This blog follows my latest adventures as I learn about the wonderful wildlife in this region.

Sunday, 5 December 2010

A wet week in the garden

Well, as many parts of Australia will be far too aware, this has been a very wet week. Fortunately I was able to get to the gardens one day and found that the birds were loving all the water! Here are some colourful Eastern Rosellas Platycercus eximius having a great time in the little pool. First one had a good shake, then the other, then they both did, so they ended up looking very dishevelled!

I manged to get a nice shot of a Crimson Rosella who was watching the antics nearby but preferring to stay dry. I also managed a picture of an Eastern Spinebill, though sadly its a little out of focus or it would have come close to a decent picture of one of these birds that I always have trouble capturing as they move so fast!

Finally, at long last I also managed to get a shot of a Gang-gang Cockatoo Callocephalon fimbriatum for this blog! I heard the familiar creaking call and spied one in a tree, however it is a female or perhaps a juvenile (it looks rather young and scraggly in the first photo), apparently young birds are similar to the adult female, with young males differing by having a red crown and forehead and a shorter, less twisted red crest. So, a little disappointing its not a male but I will keep an ear out and hopefully one day I will get a picture of one in the gardens on here for you (though before long they might be heading back up to higher altitudes - they are more common in Canberra in winter).

2 comments:

Hi HazelLovely observations. The Gardens has terrific habitat for Rosellas and Gang Gangs.Spinebills are hyperactive, in my opinion. I put it down to their sugar diet.Lovely bird, but as you say, so hard to get a decent photo.Denis

Twitter / ANBG

Brisbane Adventures/Lunchtime Adventures is part of the Nature Blog Network

About Me

My name is Dr Hazel Parry and I work for CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences as a Research Scientist. I specialise in spatial ecology and ecological modelling.
My research interests include: agent-based and individual-based modelling, computer simulation of crop pest population dynamics and dispersal, grid computing, geographical information systems, environmentally sensitive farming and predicting the implications of policy and environmental change for agricultural landscapes.
Publications